Islamic Banking Kashmir (IBK), an awareness, research and advocacy group which aims to facilitate implementation of Islamic banking & finance in J&K, has launched a survey campaign for all districts in the state to test the potential of Islamic banking in Jammu & Kashmir.

In order to convince concerned authorities to amend the laws accordingly and allow such an option for the people of the state, the data from survey will be analyzed and its comprehensive report will be sent to the Reserve Bank of India & Finance Ministry of India.

Islamic Banking Kashmir (IBK) was launched by Mehboob Makhdoomi, an expert on Islamic Banking and alumnus of Harvard and Pennsylvania University earlier this year along with valley -based youth Yasir Wani and Anah Bhat. IBK was started to educate Kashmiris about the benefits of the alternative banking system, in order to provide an avenue to people who don’t prefer to use conventional banking.

IBK Chairman Mehboob Makhdoomi, while briefing about the survey, said, “People can fill in these surveys online as well as offline. Those who want to do it online can log on to the group’s website here . On this page, there are surveys for all the 22 districts of J&K. A respondent has to click on the name of the district he belongs to and complete the Survey and submit,” he said.

“However, the primary focus is on the paper surveys which will be conducted by the group’s district coordinators in their respective districts. We will approach people from all sections of the society and request to fill in these surveys,” he added.

Earlier this year, IBK wrote to Reserve Bank of India, appreciating its report ‘Committee on Medium-term path for Financial Inclusion’ released in December, 2015 which recommended ‘Special windows’ for interest-free banking within conventional banks and suggested its initiation from Jammu & Kashmir as it is the only Muslim-majority state in India